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Seneca Tragicus ! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Seneca tragicus ! The University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics, and Archaeology 2010–2011, Semester 2 Seneca Tragicus Edinburgh 2011 Seneca tragicus (LATI10034) You should use this course handbook in conjunction with the Honours Handbook 2010–2011 which was distributed earlier. There you will find information on course protocol, in particular on plagiarism and penalties for late coursework and a section on assessment. If you do not have a copy of the handbook it can be downloaded from: http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/undergraduate GENERAL INFORMATION COURSE ORGANISER Dr Michael Lurie Office: West Wing (Teviot Place) 01M.13 Phone: (0131) 6503588 e-mail: [email protected] Other helpful contacts are the Classics secretaries, Elaine Hutchison ([email protected]) and Jill Shaw ([email protected]). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 1 BCE – 65 CE) was not only an orator, statesman, philosopher, and an author of philosophical essays, but also a brilliant playwright, whose tragedies exercised a powerful influence over the Renaissance theatres of Italy, France, and Elizabethan England. The course examines Seneca's plays in their historical, literary, and intellectual contexts. Particular attention is paid to Seneca's transformation of Greek models, the role of Stoic philosophy, political background, and the history of reception of Seneca's plays in Europe. TEACHING ARRANGEMENTS PLACE: West Wing (Teviot Place) 01M.20. TIME: Tuesdays in Semester 2 at 16.00–17.50. ASSESSMENT This course will be assessed by a combination of prescribed coursework, which will count for 35% of the final mark, and a two-hour examination, which will count for the remaining 75%. There is no resit examination for this course, unless it is being taken as part of an Ordinary degree programme. LEARNING OUTCOMES – translate fluently and accurately from the prescribed texts into clear and appropriate English – produce problem-oriented, well-argued, well-researched, relevant, and coherent coursework essays on specific aspects of Seneca’s work and Roman intellectual history – demonstrate in written work and in examinations an informed understanding of the most important historical, literary, cultural, intellectual, and philosophical issues raised by the !1 Seneca Tragicus Edinburgh 2011 study of Seneca’s tragedies, Latin poetry, and Roman intellectual history as well as of the most important scholarly approaches in the interpretation of Seneca’s work – make judicious use of dictionaries, commentaries, works of reference, and critical studies DETAILED INFORMATION ON COURSE PARTICIPATION AND CONTACT There will be classes on all Tuesdays in Semester 2. In most meetings interaction and discussion rather than passive listening will be the norm. You are expected to prepare in advance for each meeting, in particular by reading thoroughly the relevant Latin text. Attendance is of course expected, and it will be appreciated of students who for whatever reason cannot attend a particular meeting give notice of this by e-mail. Spare copies of handouts will be available. Persistent absence without sufficient justification will be reported to the student's Director of Studies. Messages about the course may be circulated to students by e-mail. It is now a University requirement that students must respond to e-mails sent to their University e-mail address and it will be assumed that every member of the class can be contacted at this address and checks incoming mail regularly. Feedback from students is always welcome. You may either contact the course organiser personally or speak to the Class Representative. At the end of the course, you will be asked for your anonymous comments on a course assessment questionnaire. TEACHING PROGRAMME Week 1: Seneca: rhetoric, philosophy, tyranny Week 2: Insatiable desire and the spread of evil – Thyestes 1-175 Week 3: Atreus and stoic psychology or: Who is a true king? – Thyestes 176–404 Week 4: A king without a kingdom – Thyestes 405–622 Week 5: Cosmic sympathy and the conflagration of the universe – Thyestes 623–884 Week 6: Recognition in the dark. Thyestes and the problem of evil – Thyestes 885–112: – Retrospective I: Seeing Seneca as a whole Week 7: From Sophocles to Seneca – Oedipus 1–201 !2 Seneca Tragicus Edinburgh 2011 Week 8: Fate, divination, and inverted nature – Oedipus 202–402 Week 9: Magic spells and tragic ghosts – Oedipus 403–708: Week 10: High-speed recognition or: The mechanics of fate – Oedipus 709–914 Week 11: No Stoic world? Stoicism and Seneca’s tragic vision – Oedipus 915–1061 – Retrospective II: Theatrum Mundi ASSESSMENT: COURSEWORK There will be one essay (ca. 3,500 words), worth 35% of the marks for the course, due by 12 noon on Thursday 24 March 2011. The essays can be 'more literary' or 'more philosophical' in approach or deal with Seneca’s transformation of Greek models or look at the reception of Seneca in modern Europe. They should, however, focus on the set texts. If you wish to choose your own subject please consult with me about the title by seventh week. Otherwise try one of the following topics. Feel free to adapt the wording. ‘These are not tragedies! These are declamations, composed according to the norm of tragedy and spun into acts’ (F. Leo). Discuss [Your answer must be based on a detailed analysis of one of the set texts] What role, if any, does Stoic philosophy play in Seneca’s tragedies? [Your answer must be based on a detailed analysis of one of the set texts] Are Seneca’s plays mere showpieces of technical virtuosity? Or are they to be taken seriously as literature? [Your answer must be based on a detailed analysis of one of the set texts] ‘Seneca’s Thyestes is a political play of the age of Nero.’ Discuss What makes Seneca’s Oedipus so different from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex? Discuss the influence of Seneca’s Thyestes or Oedipus on the Renaissance theatre of Italy, France, and Elizabethan England. [Your answer must be based on a detailed analysis of particular plays] Discuss any modern translation, adaptation, or production of Seneca’s Thyestes or Oedipus. ASSESSMENT: DEGREE EXAMINATION The degree examination (two hours) will consist of translation and interpretation of passages from the prescribed texts and an essay question. !3 Seneca Tragicus Edinburgh 2011 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. PRESCRIBED EDITION: O. ZWIERLEIN (OCT 1986) 2. TRANSLATIONS: – J. G. Fitch, vol. 1-2 (Loeb 2002-2004) – E. Wilson (Oxford World’s Classics 2010) 3. COMMENTARIES: Hercules furens: – ed. by J. G. Fitch (Cornell 1987) Troades: – ed. by E. Fantham (Princeton 1982) Phoenissae: – ed. by M. Frank (Leiden 1995) Medea: – ed. by C. D. N. Costa (Oxford 1973) – ed. with translation and commentary by H. M. Hine (Aris & Phillips 2000) Phaedra: – ed. by M. Coffy and R. Mayer (Cambridge 1990) Oedipus: – K. Töchterle, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Oedipus: Kommentar mit Einleitung, Text, Übersetzung (Heidelberg 1994) – ed. by A. J. Boyle (Oxford 2010) Agamemnon: – R. J. Tarrant, Seneca, Agamemnon, ed. with a commentary (Cambridge 1976) Thyestes: – R. J. Tarrant, Seneca’s Thyestes. Edited with introduction and commentary (Atlanta 1985) [Octavia]: – A. J. Boyle (ed.), Octavia: Attributed to Seneca. With introduction, translation, and commentary (Oxford 2008) !4 Seneca Tragicus Edinburgh 2011 4. BIBLIOGRAPHY B. Seidensticker & M. Armstrong, ‘Seneca tragicus 1878-1978 (with Addenda 1979 ff.),’ ANRW II. 32.2 (1985) 916–968 O. Hiltbrunner, ‘Seneca als Tragödiendichter in der Forschung von 1965 bis 1975’, ANRW II.32.2 (1985) 969–1051 5. COMPANIONS AND COLLECTIONS OF ARTICLES ON SENECA J.-P. Aygon (ed.), Sénèque, un philosophe homme de théâtre? (Toulouse 2014) S. Bartsch & D. Wray (eds), Seneca and the Self (Chicago 2009) S. Bartsch & A. Schiesaro (eds), Cambridge Companion to Seneca (Cambridge 2014) M. Billerbeck (ed.), Sénèque le tragique (Vandœuvres, Genève 2004) A. J. Boyle (ed.), Seneca Tragicus: Ramus Essays on Senecan Drama (Victoria 1983) G. Damschen & A. Heil (eds.), Brill's Companion to Seneca, Philosopher and Dramatist (Leiden 2014) J. G. Fitch (ed.), Oxford Readings in Seneca (Oxford 2008) K. Volk & G. D. Williams (eds.), Seeing Seneca Whole. Perspectives on Philosophy, Poetry and Politics (Leiden 2006) 6. BOOKS ON SENECA AND SENECA’S PLAYS M. Billerbeck, Senecas Tragödien : sprachliche und stilistische Untersuchungen (Leiden 1988) M. Billerbeck, M. Somazzi et al., Repertorium der Konjekturen in den Seneca-Tragödien (Leiden 2009) J. D. Bishop, Seneca’s Draggered Stylus: Political Code in the Tragedies (Hain 1985) A.J. Boyle, Tragic Seneca. An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition (London 1997) A.J. Boyle, Roman Tragedy (London and New York 2006) P. J. Davis, Shifting Song: The Chorus in Seneca’s Tragedies (Olms-Weidmann 1993) P. J. Davis, Seneca: Thyestes. Duckworth companions to Greek and Roman tragedy (London 2003) J. Dingel, Seneca und die Dichtung (Heidelberg 1974) S. F. Fischer, Seneca als Theologe. Studien zum Verhältnis von Philosophie und Tragödiendichtung (Berlin/New York 2008) M.T. Griffin, Seneca, a Philosopher in Politics (Oxford 1976; repr. 2003) K. Heldmann, Untersuchungen zu den Tragödien Senecas, Hermes Einzelschriften 31 (1974) G. O. Hutchinson, Latin Literature from Seneca to Juvenal (Oxford 1993) J. Ker, The Deaths of Seneca (Oxford/New York 2009) C. Kugelmeier, Die innere Vergegenwärtigung des Bühnenspiels in Senecas Tragödien (München 2007) W. L. Lieberman, Studien zu Senecas Tragödien (Hain 1974) C. A. J. Littlewood, Self-representation and Illusion in Senecan Tragedy (Oxford 2004) R. Mayer, Seneca: Phaedra. Duckworth companions to Greek and Roman tragedy (London 2004) N.T. Pratt, Seneca’s Drama (Chapel Hill 1983) O. Regenbogen, Schmerz und Tod in den Tragödien Senecas, (1927/1928); repr. (Darmstadt 1963) T.J. Rosenmeyer, Senecan Drama and Stoic Cosmology (Berkeley 1989) P. Schaefer, De philosophiae Annaeanae in Senecae tragoediis vestigiis, Diss. Jena (1909) A. Schiesaro, The Passions in Play: Thyestes and the Dynamics of Senecan Drama (Cambridge 2003) C.
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